ut in any other buildings when you
came up?" Again Mitchell shook his head.

"Just this barracks, huh?"

Mitchell nodded.

There was a moment of silence. "Five minutes, you jugheads," Weisbaum
roared. "Five minutes or I'll have your flabby hides hung like
wallpaper in my room."

By the time the platoon got back in the barracks after a five-mile
walk around the perimeter of the post, Taps were sounding and the
lights went out as soon as the men hit their bunks. The talking was
over. Jed felt better after the pleasant walk in the night air. He
decided Ma would be asleep anyway by this time. He turned his head
into his pillow and was snoring in ten seconds.

* * * * *

Once Jed began getting the feel of what was wanted of him, his
training improved and the wrath of the platoon sergeants and corporals
was directed elsewhere. The recruits moved rapidly through the
hardening period and with each day, Jed found the going easier. By the
time the platoon was ready for the rifle range, Jed hadn't had time to
give more than a brief occasional thought about home.

When the supply sergeant issued him his M-14 rifle, Jed carried it
back to the barracks like a young bridegroom carrying his beloved
across their first threshold.

"Harry," he said in an awed voice to his bunkmate, "ain't that jest
about the most bee-ootiful thing you ever did see?"

Fisher was sitting on the lower bunk beside Jed, working the action on
his own rifle. "It's a lovely weapon, allright. I just hope I can hit
the side of a barn with it."

"Hit a barn with it," Jed said in amazement, "why, Harry, with this
here gun I could hit a squirrel in the eye two ridges away and let you
pick which eye."

Fisher grinned. "I've heard you mountain boys are pretty good with a
rifle. We'll see just how good you are next week when we go out on the
range."

The following Monday morning on the range, the platoon gathered around
Corporal Weisbaum.

"Awright, you bums," the corporal sneered, "here's where we separate
the men from the boys. Don't let the noise shake you too bad and if it
kicks you in the shoulder a little, don't flinch. Remember what you
learned in dry fire practice--hold 'em and squeeze 'em off. This is
just familiarization fire, so don't worry if you don't hit the first
few shots."

He gestured. "Awright. First order on the firing line."

Twenty men of the platoon, Jed included, moved up the embankment to
the f